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The 2012 class for the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame in St. Louis is small but select: Alex Yermolinsky, the St. Petersburg-born grandmaster now living in South Dakota, will become the 48th member of the Hall of Fame in a ceremony Tuesday, joining champions of the American game including Paul Morphy, Bobby Fischer and Benjamin Franklin.

The 54-year-old Yermolinsky is no stranger to the Washington chess scene or to this column, having won multiple Eastern Opens and nearly capturing the 1997 U.S. Open played in Alexandria. For a time in the mid- to late-1990s, “The Yerminator” seemed to be winning virtually every open Swiss event that mattered, including three World Opens.

After emigrating from the Soviet Union in 1989, he played on several U.S. Olympiad teams. He was twice national champion as well, sharing the title with GM Alex Shabalov in 1993 and winning the title outright three years later. He has written two books, including the widely praised “The Road to Chess Improvement,” one of the most candid and instructive game collections ever put together by a top player. Married to WGM Camilla Baginskaite, one of the country’s strongest female players, Yermolinsky now works with the South Dakota Chess Association as a coach, lecturer and tournament director.

Despite his successes, Yermolinsky was something of a late bloomer by chess standards, earning his grandmaster title in 1992 at the age of 34. In honor of his induction, we have a pair of entertaining miniatures from his Soviet days, both packing a lot of attractive tactics into a bare minimum of moves.

Against IM Anatoly Shvedchikov (now best known as the trainer of Vietnamese GM Le Quang Liem) at an event in Odessa in 1981, Yermolinsky goes after White’s solid Saemisch King’s Indian set-up with a pawn sacrifice that lures his opponent to his doom: 11. b3?! (the start of White’s woes, as Black’s KID bishop now can run free on the long diagonal) Ne5 12. Bc2 b5!? (aggressive play that White badly underestimates) 13. cxb5 axb5 14. Nxb5 Qe8!, hitting the knight but also eyeing mischief along the e-file.

Yermolinsky needed the same number of moves to dispatch Armenian GM Ashot Anastasian at a 1987 tournament in Pavlodar, Russia, this time playing the Black side of the tricky Budapest Gambit. His opponent tries to steer the play to more placid waters, only to crash on a hidden shoal.

Black’s pieces are applying annoying pressure, but Anastasian is holding things together until 16. Qxe2 Rde8! (a sly little move with a nasty sting) 17. Na4?? (White logically would like to do away with the bishop on c5, but 17. f3 should have been played first) Ng4! 18. h3 (see diagram; this seems to deal with Black’s crude mate threat, but Yermolinsky has another idea in mind) Rxe3!!.

St. Louis has been a busy place this month for chess — French GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave took clear first in the sixth annual Spice Cup GM Tournament at the city’s Webster University, a half-point ahead of Vietnam’s Le and GM Ling Diren of China. The winner’s best game came against tail-ender GM Georg Meier of Germany.

Some ill-judged queenside pawn-hunting by White in this Symmetrical English leaves Meier’s queen on a precarious perch after 18. Bg5?! (Rb1 Rb6 19. Qa5 Bg4 20. h3 was safer) Rb6 19. Qa5, as Black will continually exploit discovered attacks on the queen when the rook moves.